Brad Lincoln Starts Strong for Hickory

After losing a year due to elbow surgery, the Pirates No. 1 draft pick in 2006, Brad Lincoln, made his first start of the year pitching for Hi A Hickory.  He pitched 5 innings, giving up only 4 hits, one run, no walks and 3 K's.  He was not supposed to be ready until another month or so, but after he had thrown two 5 inning/90 pitch outings at extended Spring Training in Florida, he announced himself ready and the Pirates agreed.  They plan on developing him slowly for the next few months, but his success in that first game has to be a real lift for the whole organization.  I think last year's No. 1, LH Starting Pitcher Daniel Moskos, is 3 - 1 for Lo A Lynchburg.

At AAA, Switchhitting 3B Neil Walker bumped his average up to .213 and now has 8 doubles/4 triples/5 HR's/21 RBI's.  Steve Pearce has 26 RBI's (Team Leader) and Walker is tied with CF Andrew McCutchen, who is batting .285, at 21 RBI's for 2nd on the team.  How far is it to July?

Dumatrait throws 2 excellent innings then walks the 7th, 8th, and 9th hitters in the Cubs order.  He was not even close with the first two hitters, and the 3rd was the pitcher who was trying his damndest to bunt and give us an out.  Hate to see a guy come off the scrap heap like he did and then turn into a pumpkin after it looks like he is the "find" of the year.  Grabow and Yates did a nice job in relief. 

Hey Mient - when you are down a run in the 7th and the pitcher starts you off 2 - 0, you OWE it to the team to take at least one strike.  He swings at the first strike he saw and popped it up.  Next batter gets walked on 5 pitches.  Howry looked as bad as Dumatrait!   That's selfish and stupid baseball and something I would not have expected from a veteran.

Please somebody put a rule in effect that pitchers are not allowed to throw breaking pitches to Bixler!         

emjay,

Nice post on Lincoln.  The fans are sure pulling for him.

The strange thing about Dumatrait today is that control has never even been the issue with him.  It has always been the longball that has plagued him throughout his career.   It is OK when you walk seven batters with strikeout "stuff" like Dice-K does every other outing for Boston, but Phil doesn't have those punchout type pitches.  

Just my personal opinion on Bixler, but he looks like a potential major league player in the infield at times. Slick glove and a rifle for an arm.  However, at the plate, he has ZERO discipline for someone with very little power.

Swarrow's The Barn is good food!

B:  Dumatrait is not too far away from being a dominant pitcher.  He got his fastball up to 93 on one pitch, and seems to have a nice curve in the low 80's and then threw a straight change to a few batters that had them tied up.  I was not aware that he had a straight change, but that could be a great out pitch for him because of his velocity. 

Bixler has that "ballplayer look" and that is why he is still with the Pirates as a prospect.  However, by this point in his career he should have developed some willingness to go the other way instead of pulling off every pitch - can't hit what you can't see!  Ditto on Ronnie Paulino whose first step is out to left instead of a "step-in-place" or a short stride straight out to the pitcher.  By the way - just loved the passed ball and the throw to 3rd - both plays cost us dearly - he is working his way back to the minors, and would probably already be there if not for Doumit's broken thumb. 

Bixler also has 6 errors already at SS in only 26 games.  Figuring just a 150 game season that projects to about 30 - Wilson had 11 all last year and was about 5th in the NL!  That is why I see the Pirates looking to land a young shortstop who is at at Lo A or Hi A right now and bringing them along in time.  Because Bixler is already 25, his prospect years are coming to a swift end.    

emjay, thanks for the update on Lincoln.  His progress will be shot in the arm of this franchise.  They have had such bad recent history with pitchers going under the knife, which has set the franchise back in their attempt to escape this string of losing seasons.  I still contend that back when Ramirez was traded to the Cubs, had Kris Benson not been injured, it would have been him that was traded and not Ramirez.  Granted, he would have been traded later, but they would have gotten a better return.  Maybe things really are starting to change?  The new management seems to have a good understanding of what needs done, and when guys like Lincoln start to improve it can only help the long term success of the Pirates.

penz:  Exactly.  The Pirates found a major bit of help with Dumatrait who they got for a waiver price, but he got his chance when RH Morris was cut loose.  The Pirates are still LH heavy in the starting rotation and we need somebody to step up in the next year.  That could come as a result of JVB finally being able to show he can cut it in the Major Leagues, Luis Munoz could step up, or they could give Bullington a chance.  I think Lincoln - if everything goes better than expected - will still be a year or two away at best. 

Trades usually do not bring a young, top quality starting pitcher unless you have a guy like Hamilton to dangle, as in Cincy's case, or unless you watch the Rays closely, because they are so deep in young RH starting pitching, they will not be able to keep them all - Shields, Sonnanstine, Jackson, Hammel, Niemann just to name a handful!  

UPDATE  UPDATE:

Lincoln is now 2 - 0, throwing 5 innings, 4 hits, 1 run, 1 walk/2 K's.  And to make it better, Mike Felix pitched fairly well in the last 2 innings of the game.  I like this a lot, but it does not change my mind that the Pirates will make Aaron Crow their 1st pick in the draft, and that we should have a scouting combine sitting in Tampa Bay when they start to unload some RHSP's.